Hypertension: Don advocates for teaching of medical education, as global burden hits 1.6billion people

The Director of scientific affairs, Nigerian Heart, Prof.  Adebayo Adeyemi has advocated for the teaching of medical education in schools as part of efforts to control hypertension and other deadly ailments afflicting people all over the world.

Adeyemi, who featured on Splash FM’s ‘Talking Point’ on Monday in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital noted that lack of knowledge of medical history of many families has not assisted the medical world, particularly in Nigeria and some African countries in tackling and controlling ailments among the people.

He averred that when a family is abreast of its medical history, especially the prevailing medical issues that had resided in the family for generations, controlling such medical issues will definitely be easier and fewer deaths at young age will be controlled.

Noting that the 17th of May every year has been classified as “World Hypertension Day”, Prof.  Adeyemi said the essence of the classification of the day was to draw the attention of the whole world to the threat of hypertension to the survival of mankind.

Describing hypertension as a “silent killer”, he said about 1.6billion people are affected all over the world.

He observed that while hypertensive patients in so many developed countries seek early medical attention, most Nigerians never bothered about their health status.

He further noted that most Nigerians are proned to self medication while primary health care that should be readily available are virtually non existent.

He noted that the theme of the Hypertension Day “measure your blood pressure, control it, live long” is intended to create awareness of the deadly effect of hypertension on mankind.

According to him, tobacco, alcohol, stress, noise pollution, depression, processed food, financial situation, insecurity are some of the factors that could trigger hypertension and consequently lead to early death or midwife other diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

The Don advised people to go for medical check on their blood pressure at least once in a month to prevent unwarranted death.

Prof. Adeyemi, who is a former Chairman of the Governing Council of The Polytechnic, Ibadan also observed that the people in the rural areas are more proned to sudden death from hypertension due to inadequate medical facilities in such places.